Organ Harvesting: Ekweremadus to know fate today

Ike Ekweremadu, Nigeria’s former deputy Senate president faces up to life in jail in Britain on Friday when he is sentenced for plotting to harvest a man’s kidney for his sick daughter.

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, was found guilty in March in the first case of its kind to be heard in the United Kingdom of plotting to bring the adolescent street vendor into Britain in exchange for a body part.Beatrice, Ekweremadu’s 56-year-old wife, was also found guilty, as was Obinna Obeta, a 50-year-old doctor who served as the scheme’s middleman. They will also receive a sentence on Friday.

After the jury deliberated for nearly 14 hours, Sonia, the 25-year-old daughter of the Ekweremadus, sobbed as she was acquitted of the same charge.

Donating a kidney is permitted in Britain, but not in exchange for money or other tangible goods.

It was the first time accusations of an organ harvesting conspiracy had been made under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act from that year.

The law allows for a life sentence as the maximum punishment.

A “landmark conviction,” according to Detective Inspector Esther Richardson of the Metropolitan Police’s Modern Slavery and Exploitation Command, who also hailed the victim for his “bravery” in coming forward.

The 21-year-old victim from Lagos, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said throughout the trial’s weeks-long proceedings that the Ekweremadus had flown him to Britain to have his kidney harvested.

According to reports, Sonia, who is still receiving dialysis treatment for a renal ailment, would receive the kidney in exchange for up to £7,000 ($8,800).

The individual claimed he was hired by a physician who worked for the politician and had mistakenly believed he was traveling to the UK to find employment.

According to testimony given in court, he didn’t realize it was for a kidney transplant until he was brought to London’s Royal Free Hospital last year.

After preliminary tests revealed he would not be a suitable donor, he fled and camped out on the streets for three days.

The court heard that he eventually entered a police station in May and declared that he was “looking for someone to save my life.”

Ike Ekweremadu told the jury that he thought he was being “scammed,” despite the four defendants’ attorneys’ insistence that he was acting “altruistically.”

Since 2003, Ekweremadu has served as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s representative for southeast Nigeria’s Enugu West seat.

This week, Nigerian parliamentary leaders pleaded for mercy before a London court, arguing that Ekweremadu was a first-time offender who had made significant contributions to West African politics.

Due to his detention before and during the trial, he did not run in the most recent elections for the National Assembly.

Prosecutors and the trial judge decided that he might attempt to leave the UK. His wife and daughter had been released on bail with conditions.

It was a “horrific plot,” said to Chief Crown Prosecutor Joanne Jakymec, who also charged the powerful defendants with having “utter disregard for the victim’s welfare, health, and wellbeing.”

Around 7,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant from a suitable donor, and about 20 people in Britain are diagnosed with kidney failure every day, necessitating prolonged dialysis treatment.

According to Fiona Loud, policy director at the nonprofit Kidney Care UK, informed permission is “a crucial component of the organ donation program” and careful checks are conducted to ensure “no coercion.”

Voluntary donors engage in “an act of great generosity”, she said.